His father won it – Frankel, completely brilliantly in one of the most thrilling performances ever put up at the Royal meeting or, indeed, anywhere. Can Damysus possibly follow in such illustrious hoofprints?

This is Royal Ascot’s signature one-mile event for older horses, first run in 1840 and commemorating the monarch who founded the racecourse some 130 years before that. The striking Damysus – his face, legs and belly daubed with white – comes here with an equally flashy reputation established in races over one-eighth of a mile further, but having failed to shine quite so brightly in his first assignment against G1 milers last month. Don’t put it past him to have learned from that experience.